Category Archive: Case Studies

Within its 130-year old building in Joliet, the Spanish Community Center operates a year-round bilingual daycare, a food pantry, ESL classes, and offers community service hours and programs. When the Center’s Executive Director Elizabeth Nevarez contacted Elevate Energy, she was interested in an energy assessment to improve overall building performance and reduce utility expenses. Because [...]

This is the second in a four-part series on the local contractors we work with. We often tout the environmental and community benefits of energy efficiency. We’re also making things easier for local contractors and creating jobs along the way. In fact, since we started our energy efficiency service for multifamily buildings, we’ve helped to [...]

We often tout the environmental and community benefits of energy efficiency. But did you know we’re also making things easier for local contractors and creating jobs along the way? Here’s how. As part of our energy efficient buildings service, our team works directly with building owners to identify, explain, and prioritize the most cost-effective improvements [...]

WTTW, Chicago’s premier public television station, and WFMT, the city’s classical and fine arts radio station, were interested in reducing energy use at their joint broadcast and production facility, the Renée Crown Public Media Center. They wanted to make improvements that would lower energy bills and promote a healthier environment. With help from Elevate Energy, [...]

In the early 1970s, while more and more households in the predominately Latino neighborhoods of Pilsen and Little Village became dual-income, local families struggled to find childcare. A devoted group of parents were inspired to establish the first bilingual and affordable childcare center in the area, El Hogar del Niño. More than forty years later, [...]

This Thanksgiving, we’re thankful for the opportunity to help nonprofit organizations like Little City minimize operating costs, allowing them to focus more resources on their mission. As a mission-based organization ourselves, we understand how important this is. Little City does good. The organization opened its doors more than 50 years ago to ensure that people [...]

Liz Vogel replaced the windows and updated the heating system in her 2-4 unit building in Logan Square. But she still noticed that parts of her home were not staying warm in winter. So she set out to solve the mystery of the missing heat. She saw icicles hanging from her roof, and that was a [...]

More than 40 percent of Cook County residents rent their homes, and the need for affordable rental housing in the region is growing. Reducing energy costs in rental properties can help keep housing affordable. But, when tenants foot their own heating or cooling bills in these buildings, what is the motivation for a building owner [...]

At Elevate Energy, we’re dedicated to smarter energy use for all. This is exactly why we support strong carbon pollution standards. Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, proposed a plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants. We support this important move to take action to confront climate change. [...]

As building owners and renters navigate the wake of the economic downturn, preserving affordable housing remains a very important topic. In the Chicago region and beyond, there is an intense need for truly affordable rental housing. One way to help preserve the affordable housing stock is to improve the energy efficiency of existing multifamily apartment [...]